This is our story - Sharyn Munro

Video | 30 November, 2012

Sharyn literally wrote the book on the impact coal is having on rural communities across Australia. She spent a year of her life documenting the stories of farmers and small business owners as they scrambled to make sense of the coal juggernaut as it rolled over the top of their lives. She calls it an industrial invasion.

Sharyn’s year-long investigation led her to conclude the game was rigged and coal and coal seam gas extraction companies were playing taking Australian communities for granted.

“The process is a sham,” said Sharyn. Though she has no doubt that whole communities are awake to the problems, saying, “Conservative people who would never have thought of breaking the law are really considering defying it. Good people defying bad laws.”

“What I found out was shocking, the scale of it, the speed of it and the really callous, corporate tactics used on people - I had not ever imagined that would be happening in Australia. I may have been naive but I thought if it shocked me it would shock ordinary Australians. I want them to read my book. They'll get very angry, they'll get quite upset but I want them to dry their eyes but stay angry enough to speak out, to act to save Australia and say; 'This is not the Australia we want to be or need to be’, despite the spin we are constantly fed.”